Communication media such as instant messaging, text messaging etc. have become more widespread. Several types of information and applications can be transported to users via these communication media (e.g. voting applications, marketing information etc.). One such application is an electronic form application, wherein a form (typically comprising a series of questions) is rendered to a user by means of a series of form prompts (e.g. textual, verbal etc.). A user populates the form with a series of inputs and once the user has completed populating the form, the user's data is submitted for further processing (e.g. storing the user's inputs in a database).
Current electronic form applications provide a degree of assistance information to the user. For example, for a date field in a form, the format of the required input can be displayed (e.g. DD/MM/YYYY). This information can be displayed in several ways. For example, the information can be displayed at the bottom of the form when the user moves a cursor over the date field in the form. In another example, the information can be displayed in a pop up window. In another example, the information is displayed as a list options, so that the user can select an appropriate option from the list.
Whilst current electronic form applications provide a certain amount of assistance information to a user, there will be situations when this assistance information is not sufficient. In these situations, the user will require a further amount of assistance in order to proceed with populating the form. For example, in a field of a form dedicated to a user's personnel information, namely a field relating to the user's manager's identification number, although assistance regarding the format of required input can be provided, assistance regarding the content of the input will not be able to be provided. This is because the content of the input is likely to change regularly and therefore maintenance of the assistance information will be time consuming.
Therefore, if the user does not know the input, they will have to resort to other means of obtaining the input, for example, telephoning their manager for the input, searching an online information source for the input, guessing at the input etc. However, these means have associated disadvantages. For example, the user may have to close the form in order to find the input, which may result in the user having to fill in the form from scratch when they restart the form. In another example, the user's manager may not be available to take the telephone call, in which case, completion of the form is delayed. In yet another example, searching an online information source for the input is time consuming and also delays completion of the form. In yet another example, a guess at the input will often be erroneous.
If completion of a form prompt requires a particular type of knowledge (i.e. expertise) because it is domain specific (e.g. a form prompt regarding car engines), the content of the input required will be even more time consuming to retrieve as the user may not know where to find it. Furthermore, having retrieved the input, the onus is on the user to have made sense of the input in order to complete the form correctly. If the user has misunderstood the input, then errors in populating the form will result.
One prior art solution to this problem comprises a screen sharing utility, which allows another party to share the user's screen so that the other party can provide input to the form on the user's behalf. However, this requires extra software at both the user's and other party's computer systems. Furthermore, the other party will be able to view the user's entire workspace, including the entire form and this obviously has an associated privacy issue.
There is a need for an improved form assistance mechanism.